“Syria is Gaza on steroids, and that is the next war, with absolute certainty”, said Amichai Chikli Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister. “There is no avoiding it.”

The remarks are not the first time Chikli has openly threatened war against Damascus. In June, he said Israel would wage war on Syria “sooner or later”, claiming that Syria and Turkiye posed a greater challenge to Israel than Iran. “We will wage war on Syria, sooner or later, because it and Turkiye are far more worrying than Iran,” Chikli said at the time.